David John-Williams, president of the T&T Football Association (TTFA), has described the resignation of national coach, Belgian Tom Saintfiet as unfortunate.
The 43-year old coach whose last job was the Bangladesh national team, called it quits yesterday, citing lack of support from the TTFA and its president.
His replacement is expected to be Stuart-Charles Fevrier, the W Connection coach who, it was rumoured, would have taken over the country’s coaching position with the election of John-Williams as new TTFA president.
The local football boss however said he was not pleased with the resignation and will soon hold a press conference to clear the air on it. Rumours that Saintfiet was going to be fired following T&T’s failure to qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup began circulating after Sunday’s crucial 4-3 extra-time defeat by Haiti n the CFU/CONCACAF Gold Cup play-off at the Ato Boldon Stadium.
Apart from his loss to Haiti, Saintfiet’s men could not get past Caribbean minnows Suriname as they went down 2-1 in their opening match of the tournament.
John Williams yesterday referred Saintfiet’s resignation letter to the Technical Committee which later recommended that it be accepted and ratified by the Board of Directors of the football association.
John Williams in an interview with CNC3 Sports sought to make his position clear, saying he does not select the country’s headcoach, as the technical committee makes that decision.
He made it clear the technical committee will also select a replacement for the Belgian coach in the shortest possible time.
Meanwhile, Fevrier said he will accept the country’s coaching job if it is offered to him. “I am a football coach by profession and I will certainly consider any job that I am being offered, especially to work at the highest level of the game.
“It is certainly a difficult time for T&T football. Sometimes you can turn a negative into a positive and sometimes it may not work also, but if you have to take the job, you have to think positively” Fevrier said.
Quizzed on whether he can take over the hot T&T job at this time he responded “T&T have not been doing well for a while now, not just the last week or two weeks.
“The results have been in-between, not consistent, and I believe there is need for a holistic plan, but for now it’s all about qualifying for the World Cup.
“However the quality must be improved because we will be going up against quality opponents”
Fevrier has promised no guarantees if he takes the job but noted that he is confident in his ability.